One last route for 2019, an atmospheric New Year’s Eve ascent of Amphitheatre Buttress with Ross. I'd walked in twice to do this route but never made it to the foot of the ridgeline. A superb climb and amazing value for a VDiff, especially in the damp polish.
Wild winds and clear skies on Snowdon at the start of our MDES New Year's trip. We joined Crib Goch at the halfway col (scene of a historic igloo construction) and finished up to the summit, with everyone still standing.
Short rest day after the Großglockner the day before. Ross managed to find all the best feet-off rests. I've done this Klettersteig before, but this time we finished up the Gipfelwand (summit wall). Not recommended if you didn’t enjoy the earlier pitches...
Ross and Clay flew from England for a quick hit ski mountaineering weekend and with perfect conditions forecast we drove south to Kals for a two day ascent of the Großglockner.
On day 1 we skinned up to the Stüdlhütte. The next morning we crossed the glacier and joined the armies of mountaineers bidding for the summit. The view down was stunning; the Großglockner is the most prominent peak in the Alps after Mont Blanc and the spread of peaks below was magical. You can see almost 240km from the summit. Less magical was the final 150m summit ridge - if you’re looking for space, solitude and a clear head in the mountains avoid the Großglockner on a bluebird spring morning.
Snow and poor visibility across the whole of Austria so we did our best to ski the X routes at Kitzsteinhorn.
A three week expedition to Pakistan with Clay, Ross, Steve and Karim, climbing in the Gunj-e Dur Valley north of Shimshal. Two new routes on previously unclimbed peaks.
For more photos, please see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/67hours/sets/72157685753210772/
